Sprint trio among athletes set to compete at Letzigrund Stadium on August 28 in first of two IAAF Diamond League finals
Newly-crowned European champions Adam Gemili and James Dasaolu will be among the gold medallists returning to the Letzigrund Stadium on August 28 when they will take on Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt over 100m.
Bolt clocked 10.06 in his first individual 100m of the year at the ‘Mano a Mano’ sprint on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, which followed the Commonwealth gold he claimed as part of the Jamaican 4x100m relay team in Glasgow at the beginning of the month.
The six-time Olympic gold medallist had been forced to delay his return to competitive action following a foot injury that ruled him out of running at events including the Ostrava Golden Spike meet on June 17 and the Paris leg of the Diamond League series on July 5.
Dasaolu matched that time by Bolt when winning European 100m gold in Zurich on August 13 and has a season’s best of 10.03, while Gemili equalled his PB in clocking 19.98 to take the 200m European title and has a 100m best of 10.04.
The trio are also set to line up alongside the likes of Dasaolu and Gemili’s fellow Briton Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who claimed European 100m bronze behind Dasaolu.
The 100m and 20om European champion Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands returns to the Zurich track to race the likes of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Blessing Okagbare, Allyson Felix and Tori Bowie as well as home favourite Mujinga Kambundji who set two national 100m records and a Swiss under-23 200m record at the European Championships. Kambundji’s compatriot Kariem Hussein will also again be looking to impress in-front of a home crowd fresh from his European 400m hurdles victory and will face a field including Felix Sanchez and Jehue Gordon.
Other athletes set to compete include Matt Hudson-Smith and Martyn Rooney in the 400m; David Rudisha, Nijel Amos, Mohammed Aman and Asbel Kiprop in the 800m and Tiffany Porter, Brianna Rollins and Sally Pearson in the 100m hurdles.
» Start lists can be found here
